Soren Kierkegaard and Charlie Brown: The Original Mockingbirds

Mockingbird’s purpose is “to connect the historic truths of the Gospel with the realities of everyday life in as fresh and down-to-earth a way possible.”

That means we use a lot of illustrations. Whether it’s the films of Whit Stillman or Pixar, the music of Elvis or Michael Jackson, or recent headlines from the world of sports or psychological research, we’re always beginning with analogies, stories, illustrations, and examples to explain things like sin, grace, love, forgiveness, and redemption. At times, people object: should Christians be listening to/watching/reading that “culture” stuff?

Definitely.

Why? Because people generally don’t want to hear what we have to say.

The late Robert Short wrote in his 1965 must-read gem of a book, The Gospel According to Peanuts (where I got the cartoons in this post), that “the objection all men have to the Church’s message is fundamentally the same: it is that universal hardness of heart lying far more deeply and steadfastly within them than any objection men can usually hold consciously.”

As a result, he advocated what Soren Kierkegaard called “indirect communication” as a means of talking about Christianity with non-adherents.

Kierkegaard wrote:

“If one is to lift up the whole age one must truly know it. That is why those ministers of Christianity who begin at once with orthodoxy have so little effect and only on so few. . . . One must begin with paganism. . . . If one begins immediately with Christianity then they say: that is nothing for us–and they are immediately on their guard” (The Journals of Soren Kierkegaard, ed. and tr. Alexander Dru. Oxford, 1938. 201).

12 comments

That's a great quote from Kierkegaard too! He wrote an essay entitled: "Thoughts That Wound From Behind For Upbuilding", which makes a similar point in and of itself, and explains the way that effective ministry often works, where we decrease so that He might increase.

What a great piece! Such a simple helpful way to explain what it is that we are all about, why we do what we do.

Actually Aaron has written a META-Mockingbird piece! He has used pop culture (Peanuts graphics, references to Whit Stillman) to explain why we talk about pop culture!

I just wanted to add one thing — and I am pretty sure Aaron would agree. He wrote:

"At times, people object: should Christians be listening to/watching/reading that "culture" stuff?"

Aaron answers yes and then explains the reason why is that it is as a means of "talking about Christianity with non-adherents."

The only thing that makes me nervous about that is that it might suggest once you become an adherent, a Christian, then there really isn't a place for you loving pop culture and all kinds of non-Christian culture anymore. Put your Edgar Allen Poe and your Stanley Kubick and your X-Men and your Homer and your Beatles and the Clash on the shelf. They have served their purpose — which was to supply you with illustrations enabling you to bridge to Christianity. But now that you're a Christian, you can just read your Bible.

Or at the most liberal, it's fine to still look at that stuff, but only if you are trying to evangelize non-adherents.

That is indeed what some people think. But it's not what we are about. We love this stuff for its own sake too. It's not just good for conveying a Christian message. Great art (including pop culture) is great because it deals with deep feelings and problems of life in and captures them in an extraordinarily beautiful way. This is always good — God is the father of all lights (even pagan ones).

Obviously this is the advantage of being non- (or rather, anti-) religious to start with: it would never have occurred to me that I shouldn't read Poe or go see Kubrick or X-Men. (I don't listen to the Beatles or Clash, but for a completely different reason….)

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About

WHAT: Mockingbird seeks to connect the Christian faith with the realities of everyday life in fresh and down-to-earth ways.

WHY: Are we called Mockingbird? The name was inspired by the mockingbird’s peculiar gift for mimicking the cries of other birds. In a similar way, we seek to repeat the message we have heard – God’s word of grace and forgiveness.

HOW: Via every medium available! At present this includes (but is not limited to) a daily weblog, weekly podcasts, a quarterly print magazine, semi-annual conferences, and an ongoing publications initiative.

WHO: At present, we employ four full-time staff, David Zahl, Ethan Richardson, Margaret Pope and CJ Green, and four part-time, Sarah Condon, Bryan Jarrell, Luke Roland and Marcy Hooker. They are helped and supported by a large number of contributing volunteers and writers. Our board of directors is chaired by The Rev. Aaron Zimmerman.

WHERE: Our offices are located at Christ Episcopal Church in Charlottesville, VA.

WHEN: Mockingbird was incorporated in June 2007 and is currently in its 12th year of operation.

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